Deal reached on Restore Act; billions in BP fines would go to Gulf states

DEBORAH BARFIELD BERRY and LEDYARD KINGGannett Washington Bureau

Published: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at 8:58 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at 9:18 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- More than two years after the BP oil spill ravaged the Gulf Coast, lawmakers reached a deal today that could spend billions to boost the region's economy and restore its environment.

Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas would share the money under the deal, which would make the bipartisan Restore Act part of a transportation bill lawmakers are expected to approve later this week.

"We (got) everything we wanted for the Gulf, so that's a huge win," said Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter, who helped negotiate the deal. "People recognize that that disaster was literally on our shores and had a huge negative impact there. "

Lawmakers were working on the final details of the transportation bill late Wednesday.

Under the Restore Act (for Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourism Opportunities and Revived Economies), the Gulf Coast would get 80 percent of the money that BP is expected to pay for the spill under the Clean Water Act. Lawmakers estimate those fines could total $5 billion to $20 billion.

Without the legislation, the fine money would go to the U.S. Treasury and to a trust fund for future oil spills nationwide.

The spill began April 20, 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and gushing millions of barrels of oil.

"Communities affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill have waited long enough for relief and should not be subject to the whims of future Congresses," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., a lead sponsor of the bill and one of the lawmakers who helped negotiate Wednesday's deal.

Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise, who introduced the measure in the House, called its inclusion in the transportation bill "a major milestone as we work to ensure the full recovery of the Gulf Coast states from the Deepwater Horizon disaster."

Gulf Coast lawmakers and businesses say the fine money could jump-start the region's economy and create thousands of new jobs. Environmental groups say the funds would help restore the region's fragile ecosystem.

"The funding that is going to be coming down the pike for coastal restoration is first and foremost about repairing damages to the coast, but in the course of doing so it's actually creating economic opportunity, it's creating jobs," said Robin Barnes, executive vice president of Greater New Orleans, a regional economic development group in Southeast Louisiana.

Money from the fines could create as many as 57,000 jobs over 10 years along the Gulf Coast, according to a report the group released early this month. Most would be in the transportation, trade and utilities industries, the report found.

"These are good-paying jobs," Barnes said.

A coalition of more than 100 local government officials, business organizations and other Gulf Coast groups wrote lawmakers earlier this month urging them to approve the Restore Act.

Environment groups also have weighed in, noting that the region is home to most of the nation's wetlands. David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society, called the Restore Act a "lifeline" for the Gulf Coast.

Vitter described the effort to keep the act in the transportation as an "up and down" battle. Action on the bill had been delayed, partly because of Republican concerns about the version passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Republicans said that version would delay promised tax breaks for companies competing in global markets, create more bureaucracy, and send millions in fine money to areas not impacted by the oil spill.

The Senate's version of the Restore Act had included a provision to expand the Land and Water Conservation Fund, but that provision was not included in the deal reached Wednesday. The fund finances efforts to set aside land and water for recreation areas.

"I was concerned that that could sink Restore," Vitter said.

A wide variety of groups have lobbied for years to win passage of the act.

At one point, Gulf Coast lawmakers agreed that most of the fine money should go to the region, but fought over how to split it. Lawmakers introduced at least five different bills, some of which would have pitted states against each other.

It was months before they reached a compromise and banded together to get support from lawmakers from other regions of the country.

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